In The Kingdom of OneEyed Men
by E.V.A.Graebel
Summary: Sequel to All That is New Again. Leoben has done the impossible and found Nya. But is he the one she loves? And will they be able to survive the Occupation?
1. Chapter 1

**In The Kingdom of One-Eyed Men**

_The mind of the gods is inscrutable to men in every way._

_-Solon_

* * *

For anyone interested in reading this fanfic, it is the third in a trilogy. The first story is "What Heroes Are Made Of" and the second is "All That Is New Again" which ended with the season two season finale. If anyone read those first two when they came out, I meant to write this sequel sooner, however with no cable I had to wait for season 3 to come out on DVD. 

"In The Kingdom of One-Eyed Men" begins with the Occupation but will include Season 3.

As usual, I own nothing but the OC contained within. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**What Dreams Are These?**

Leoben stands at the front of the table and stares at his copy, pulled freshly from the birthing tank to attend the meeting. He wears a black shirt and trousers, the copy in gross mimicry of another version, wears blue. They are equal in height, in voice, in every mannerism except for one fact that they do not wear on their skin. If Nya had shot him, he would not have been reborn, he is now as human as she is in life span. But his copy, one death is nothing to him, born again and again through many deaths and yet he stands unscathed before them all.

"I vote for execution," the copy affirms. "She executed me. It is justice."

"You resurrected." Leoben counters. "She will not."

Caprica Six stares between them with something like empathy in her eyes. "This is her, isn't it, Leoben? This is your Nya?"

"His Nya?" D'anna scoffs. "Are we keeping them like pets now? They're human. Barely able to govern themselves, and look at this Nya. If she loved you, why would she shoot you in the head? Not exactly the kind of attentions that most lovers give." Her faintly accented voice mocks them all. "I vote for death."

It can't happen. That's what Leoben wants to scream, but doesn't, it would seal her fate quicker than anything he might do. He has only words and his faith. But even that faith is being sorely tried. The image of Nya flashes across his mind again and again, clothes that were not her own, the marks of another man on her skin, and the new scars that marked her as someone different than the woman he knew.

The trend of his thoughts seems to echo in Caprica. "It's been a long time since you've seen her. Many things have changed. Are you sure? Are you sure that she still…cares for you?"

"Yes."

"She shot me in the head." The other Leoben says.

"Because you weren't me."

His copy considers this and something dawns on him, realization. "That's what I said to her. I asked her who she was. And that's when she shot me. You've got to be frakking kidding me. She loves you?"

"If God wills it so." His tongue almost slips and says _Gods_.

"How?"

This conversation is now only between them, none of the others' opinions matter. Only these two copies of Leoben Conoy, one who is now unique and one who has died so many times.

"How what?"

"How did you make her love you?"

Leoben's eyes close. He remembers those days. The ones when he was nothing but a man. He remembers the light in her eyes on Sagitarron as they chased each other across the grass, a weathered statue standing behind them. He remembers her when there was no sadness gashing across her face. And mostly he remembers how many times he had to ask her out before she gave in laughing. It had been persistence that drew them together, because he'd known from the moment he met her that Nya was the only woman he'd ever love. And although it had taken time, eventually she had loved him too.

"Tell me how." His copy persists.

"She didn't love me at first." Leoben tells the assembled group. "But I loved her. I've always loved her."

* * *

Nya reaches down and finds an arrow at her fingertips.

It's a smooth motion. Reach, string, draw, and release. The muscle memory finishes the preparation while her mind races down a thousand hallways. Through the Journey, then Pegasus, Galactica, and finally those long corridors of the Resurrection Ship as fire blossoms through blank repeating sections. An army of Leoben's staring at the explosion as it rips through them and out into space.

Reach, string, and draw.

Release.

The broad-head arrow drives into the man standing in front of the target. He slumps dead. And the entire course slides down like a great conveyor belt.

Reach, string, and draw.

Nya stares at the next copy of Leoben. And his blue eyes stare back.

"_You're dying."_

"_Just this once."_

"Nya?" This copy says.

Release.

And the next one rolls into place. There's no telling how long she has been shooting, it is a feeling of forever that swamps her soul in despair.

Reach, string, and draw.

"Nya?" The copy says.

But this time she pauses, feels the strain build in her biceps as she holds the drawn bow. Laments that her call sign is Archer but she cannot do what she must. She must shoot.

"I said that I would find you."

"We blew the Resurrection Ship out of the sky." She answers, cursing herself as her arm begins to scream in agony. Muscle failure draws closer and closer and her aim begins to waver. It's not long now and she'll have to make a decision. Stand down – or release.

"I said…" Leoben answers.

"Don't!!" Her scream echoes down the line and the shot goes wild.

Nya chokes as the arrow hits her. She's the one against the target. It's not a perfect shot – it pinions her through the throat, she cannot breathe, cannot cry out. Leoben's eyes echo her shock, it is his hands on the bow. The dying, it's not like she imagined, she never dreamed that it would hurt so bad, the thought of losing him again.

Blood bubbles out around the arrow and she welcomes death.

* * *

"What is this?" Gaius asks petulantly. The Cylons have stolen his presidency away from him. Instead he is some kind of puppet dictator who does not but repeat their commands. He handles the paper from the D'anna model as though it is some kind of viper or filth waiting to wash off on him.

"Two items," she answers. She is a tall brunette who dominates the interior of the ship with a kind of liquid grace. Next to Tom Zarek she is as tall as the Vice President but beautiful and lean where Zarek is aged and thickening. It almost makes Gaius laugh to see the two in such stark relief.

"I don't understand why you continue with this charade." Zarek snarls. "We have no power. The idea of a human presidency is one where we're in control. If you're truly trying to build some kind of bridge between our people then we should have our own governing power, independent of you."

Gaius lets the paper drop from his hands. His own Six, the ghost Six, the one that has never said what she is, only that she is there inside of his mind. That Six emerges from the doorway behind him. Her skin covered in a silver dress with a plunging neckline that leaves her belly button exposed. He can't keep his eyes away from her and as she passes him, he can see the back of dress dips even further for his imagination to explore.

_"This has taken too long, Gaius. Approve the statements."_

"I'm not sure I understand what this is." He finds that his voice has spoken out loud. It's a weak sound in the plane and both D'anna in the real world and Six whirl on him with rage thinly veiled behind their eyes.

"It's a death list."

"It only has one name on it."

"The name of a murderer."

_"The name of the heretic lover!"_ Six is furious and slams her hand down inches from Gaius' hand. He doesn't flinch but his eyes roll with panic.

"Who's on that list?"

Gaius knows its Zarek but all of his attention is on the two women, the two Cylon women. "And the other one is your treaty."

Zarek grabs the sheet, his eyes twitch as he starts on the information, speaking before he even finishes. "You can't sign this. This declaration gives them the right to do anything in the colonies with the full backing of the civilian government. This isn't just a surrender, this is complicity…" His voice trails off as he reaches the final piece of information. "Nya."

"You will sign this, Gaius. You have no choice." D'anna smiles.

"This is Nya!!" Zarek roars the words.

There is no answer. As he lunges forward, two Centurions come through the door, barely fitting between the human sized entrance. One catches him only centimeters away from throttling Baltar. The ex-con grunts as a machine arm wraps around him and effectively cuts off his ability to speak. D'anna finally turns and notices the pair frozen in tableau, Zarek's eyes a bloodshot brown and the single glowing red light of the Centurion. Her eyes echo the red for a single second.

"You may remove him to detention. I don't believe that President Baltar will require his services in this new government."

"No," Gaius concedes with relief. "No, I won't."

Hands run along his back and down around his waist. An embrace that is equal parts support and threat. _"Sign it, Gaius. I'll reward you once you've signed it."_

"And what's my reward for this cooperation?" He asks D'anna.

"You're alive." She snatches up the signed copy and rereads it herself. "Did you want something more?"

"No, no. Of course not."

* * *

"Nya?"

The voice isn't familiar. It's hard for her to focus but at last she gets her eyes open. The cell is blinded with light and the man in front of it is so dark that she can't distinguish his features. Every second that passes makes her realize that she is awake but it's not a happy realization. The clothes that were scooped off the floor of their tent six days ago are no barrier to the cold floor and stiffened with her own blood, they scratch at her skin and leave it raw on top of darkening bruises

* * *

"Nya, my name is Simon. I'm here to help you."

"Help me?" The words seem so foreign and she can barely put them together. She feels his arms lift her of off the floor and press water to her lips. They're cracked and bleeding, six days of nothing but what she could lick off the walls and the slop of porridge that she was given. The splash of liquid chokes her but when he tries to draw it away, she refuses to let go, slurping at the water in desperation.

When she's had her fill he sets the cup down.

Her eyes travel over his face, warm eyes and a comforting expression. He's dressed in a white smock-like coat and it's there that she sees the syringe. Waiting in his pocket.

"What is it?"

"Just glucose," he answers, touching the barrel carefully as he draws it out and bares the needle. "You weren't supposed to be starved while you were in custody. This will help you get back on your feet for the hearing. We wouldn't want you passing out in front of the judges."

"Judges?" The world seems to spin and he catches her before she can tip back over.

"You murdered a Two." Simon wipes her arm clean of dried blood to find the vein. "Even if he resurrected, it's still a crime under the new charter."

Nya tries to wrap her mind around the thought. "It wasn't Leoben."

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't my Leoben. He's dead. I saw him die. I… I…" The Resurrection Ship explodes again and again in her mind.

"Hush," Simon says softly and stabs the needle into her arm. "It won't really matter. They've already decided your fate." A splash of blood squirts into the barrel, the needle is placed correctly in her vein, all he has to do is depress the plunger.

"My fate," she whispers knowingly. "They've already decided. You're not taking me anywhere."

"This is a kindness."

"A kindness."

Human blood mixes inside the syringe and dilutes into the poison held there.

Simon tenses his hand. "A kindness."


	2. Chapter 2

**Stars Enough and Time**

* * *

"_You must have faith_. _You cannot falter. No matter what happens_."

--

"Will you let me pray?" Nya asked it as though it was an afterthought. "I would honor my gods if I know the time of my death."

Simon considered the question. "There is but one God, but I do not think he would begrudge you your false beliefs. You will have to answer to him in the afterlife. But you know that. You loved Leoben once."

"Not just once," the words are so quiet. "I never stopped, not even when they beat me on the Pegasus. Not even when the Resurrection Ship was gone." Her eyes closed tightly as the memory ranged free of the confines of her mind. "I loved him even when I knew what he was."

Her words sparked something in his eyes. "What was he?"

--

"_I must be human."_

--

"He wasn't perfect. He wasn't ever perfect."

And those are the memories that tie him close. Not the ones where she only remembers good things, but all the others, all the imperfections that made him simultaneously irritating and yet even more precious, more hers, because she was the only one who loved him despite all of the faults and compulsions. And yet, even when he doubted her beliefs and especially when he doubted his own, he had made the right choice.

"What would perfect have entailed?" Simon's attention is rapt upon her, fascinated, but then he answered himself. "Perfect would be a man without sin, without doubts or questions, a man who knows his place in the world."

"Perfection is a machine." Nya clenched her hand tightly on his where he waited to depress the plunger, but she wasn't trying to stop him, only to force him to feel the rapid beat of her pulse compared to his even steady one. "Perfection can be carbon stamped out of a press in the hundreds or the thousands. Perfection is your Centurions, with nothing in their minds but obedience and loyalty. If you wanted perfection you would not have created the Twelve models in humanity's image."

"But…"

"Imperfection is human."

--

"_What do you want, little machine_?"

--

Leoben ran heedlessly, knocking aside other Models, Centurions and even prisoners who went flying with bags drawn tight over their eyes. His heart beat like a firestorm, threatening to rip open his chest and burst out into his hands. It hurt so badly that it felt like it was already there. Seared by oxygen and fear into something that no longer worked properly and he was afraid that if he stopped, if he didn't run as though God himself was coming for vengeance, then it would rip apart of its own volition.

His own Model had teased him, waited, traded for information that the Two wanted before he'd told Leoben the truth. D'anna had gone behind his back and authorized her execution. It had taken too much time. He was going to be too late.

Sorrow blinded him as he slid around the last corridor.

--

"_What do you want?"_

--

"Pray." He ordered.

"You're afraid of it." The thought intruded into her mind and she released her grasp. "Death is an essential condition of life, not an evil. You – all the Cylons except for Leo, you're afraid of death."

"You don't know what you're talking about. I've euthanatized many humans."

"That's different. That's not your death. It's theirs. A death without resurrection."

"So what are you afraid of?" He threw the question at her viciously.

Nya turned her attention upward as though the Gods would provide the answers. There were so many things she was afraid of. How could she love a man who had copies, copies that were his face, his voice, his mannerisms, but not him at all? How would she know her Leoben amidst a crowd of thousands? Was it better to run to the arms of a man who was created than to a man born? Was it better to love and be so frightened of that love, than to find safety and comfort in baser things?

"Would you give your life for him? Today? Now? After all this time?"

Nya ignored him, her answer was for herself alone. "I'm afraid of life without him."

--

"_And will she be faithful as you cross the stars to her_?"

--

"Nya!!" Leoben roared the word, his voice cracking and breaking under the strain. But his hands froze on the door as though this was the only moment that mattered, the one where he does not know whether she lives or not. This was the moment.

--

"_You must have faith."_

--

The door opened from the inside and Simon's form blocked the cell from Leoben's sight. But the broader man made no attempt to move.

"Is…" Leoben did not care what the Cylon would say to the others about his weaknesses, he didn't care if this was the moment that he betrayed himself. Only whether he has been too late.

Simon's eyes closed slowly, the heavy lids dropping down, before they rose again as though the Cylon had finished any last doubts in himself. "I would know that my love for God was as strong as the love she has for you. But I do not, and I did not think there could be anything more powerful than that." His bulk shifted aside.

Leoben choked as Nya struggled to stand. Her hair was longer and her eyes more haunted, but he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. She was alive. She was alive and he felt the blazing pain in his heart soften and die away as he clasped her to him for the first time in a year.

"I had faith," he whispered.

"I… I thought you had died."

"Just that once." And in front of Simon, in front of all the Gods and Goddesses and the Fates who watched with knowing eyes, he kissed her and found peace.

* * *

Chapter 3 preview: Find out what Leoben traded to the other Two and its consequences. And where will these two find safety with enemies on all sides?

Death is an essential condition…is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to everybody who has reviewed so far. Reviews make me feel all shiny.

A moment of sweetness commences……

* * *

**Orchids are Blue**

The sun breaks the rim of the horizon, falling gracefully and swiftly down as though pulled by some invisible force. It is drawn away, drawn around the curvature of the planet, and darkness blooms like some exotic flower in thousands of colors. The sky dances all around them with those colors, dandelion yellow giving birth to tangerine and blue so cobalt and vibrant that it almost washes out against the onslaught of a deep glistening purple. And on their heels, the night comes in indigo waves to suppress the others, but it is a gentle force, lulling the others into being overwhelmed as it continues inexorably towards completion.

The woman stands silhouetted against the light. The simple white dress she wears stands like a beacon against the magnificence around her.

"The suns are able to fall and rise but when that brief light has fallen for us, we must sleep a never ending night."

She blushes as Leoben speaks but doesn't ask him to stop.

"Give me a thousand kisses, then another hundred, then another thousand, then a second hundred, then yet another thousand more, then another hundred. Then, when we have made many thousands, we will mix them all up so that we don't know, and so that no one can be jealous of us when he finds out how many kisses we have shared." His voice is confident, he is confident that he can win her heart for she is the most beautiful woman he has ever known.

"Will you kiss me, Nya Reece?"

"Did you write that?"

The question is breathless and her wide grey eyes stare at him with the first glimmerings of what he thinks is love. Leoben finds that it is all that he wants. Her love. It fills a part of him that has always gaped empty. Nothing ever filled it, not religion, not work, nothing but this woman and the realization that she could love him as truly and absolutely as he loves her.

"No, I borrowed it."

She laughs and the movement draws her away from him, so he catches her in his arms to pull her back into his orbit.

"Mine all started 'Delphinium are red, Orchids are….'" He doesn't finish. She's right there, so close that he can smell the scent of her skin. It's a mix of vanillin and something subtler, as though he could spend his entire life trying to figure it out.

"Go on," she says. "Orchids are…"

"I thought the other one said it better."

"A thousand kisses? Then another hundred? I think we've got a lot of catching up to do." But she doesn't sound displeased by the thought.

"We'd better get started then." And he pulls her just a little bit closer. Their bodies are leaning in, pulse quickening, fingers tightening in their grip, electricity flaring in every touch, every…

And he kisses her.

* * *

She explores the contours of his face as though she's forgotten them, and perhaps she has. The days, the months that separated them were endless and full of many things. For so long, the only way she'd seen his face was how she imagined it staring through the window of the Ressurection Ship as the missiles impacted, and then as he turned to her with no idea of who she was. But neither of them were this man, none of her memories are of Leoben and it finally hits home as she embraces him while sobs wrack her body.

"By all the Gods," she whispers. "It's you."

"I know. And it's you." He holds her tight against him. "I knew. I knew that if I had faith I would not lose you."

"Faith?" Simon says from behind them. "God gave you faith?"

"She gave me faith." Leoben answers and then focuses on the darker man. "If we stay here they will send another to execute her."

The portent of what he's saying seems to get through to Simon. "I don't usually take sides."

"I'm not asking you to. Just report your mission complete."

"And where will you go?"

Leoben tightens his arms around her. "I've done many things to get this far. I won't leave her now. If God has let me do these things, then it must be so."

Simon considers the thought and then nods. "God's ways are many and wondrous. He stayed my hand when I would have killed the woman."

"Thank you."

"Nya." Simon says with a smile. "Take care of him."

"Why?" Nya's confusion shows in her face. First pity from this Cylon and then, concern, as though she would be the one to damage Leoben instead of the other way around. As though her love has as much destructive force as it does healing.

He doesn't answer though, leaving her to wonder at the purpose of it. Simon leads them from the hallway to the door that leads outside. It's a maintenance exit that leads to the shipping yards, but here, here they can see the Cylon raiders flocking through the sky like birds and the heavy clomp of Centurion feet. The city that lies beyond is quiet, almost subdued. "Welcome," he says softly. "To the Occupation."

* * *

They run.

Simon hasn't lied. The minute their feet hit the outside it was all Nya and Leoben could do to stay a step ahead of Centurion patrols. Except she's out of strength and she trips every other step. He doesn't hesitate, only throws his shoulder under hers and takes her weight onto him. They shouldn't be running, he only wants to stop and make her understand, show her that after all this time, he finally believes as she believes. But the patrols are too close so they run.

"Nya," he grunts as she slips and almost tumbles out of his grasp. Her shirt tears as she falls away from him and he shudders with sudden vertigo, as though she is falling from some great height. The slickness of her skin makes it difficult to hold on and the terror running through him makes him convinced that if he let's go, she will die.

"I'm okay." But it's hard for her to get upright, she was thin before her captivity, now she is wraith-like. "Leoben, that's it. That's the President's tent." She pulls him inside and children glance up with innocent curiousity at the two of them. Both Laura Roslin and her aide Tory look up startled.

Nya is almost back to her knees as she swoons from exhaustion. "Asylum," she manages to whisper. "Please give us asylum."

Laura draws back from them. "Tory, get the children out of here. Get them out now." When the children are gone she takes off her glasses and then pauses before putting them back on. "I don't know you but your face is familiar."

"I'm a Number Two." Leoben starts.

"Oh, I know exactly who you are." The older woman snaps back. "I had you thrown out of an airlock. And I'm not sure why I shouldn't have you executed again."

"No," Nya forces herself to stand firm once again but she wavers and Leoben ignores the President as he wraps her arm back around her, holding her close, protecting her as he's always meant to do. "This one is mine. He died on the Journey in front of Lee and Gaius and Tom. This is _my_ Leoben. Not the other one. He's not any of them."

"They are not individuals."

"I love her." This is his only defense. "I have been to the Temple of Athena and faced the Fates to come here. I've boxed my own copy and lied to my own kind just to find her again. All I'm asking is to stay with her. Please."

"The Fates?" Laura stares at him, searching for something in his gaze. "I was in the Temple of Athena, you needed the arrow to open it, which we had. How could you see anything?"

"I came as a supplicant and was found worthy. I don't know what they were, but the Fates were waiting there."

"And what did you ask of them?"

"For her."

Nya stares up at him, tears welling in her eyes. "The Fates only hear those who believe."

"I believe." He affirms.

Laura shakes her head. "Cylons believe in one God."

"I believe in many."

"You know there's no way I can trust you. Not after everything that you've said to me. You, or a copy, it doesn't matter. Your model is deceitful, you twist words and thoughts to your own benefit. I know that very well. And all the piety in the world will not undo what you've done." Laura leans against the desk heavily, her rich mahogany hair swirling over and covering her face. "I wish Bill were here."

"If I die." Leoben says without hesitation. "If I die this time. I will not resurrect. That's what the Fates gave me. If you do not help us, and I am captured, they will execute me thinking that is punishment enough for my weakness. But I will not resurrect. Never again. One life is all I have left." All of his cards are on the table now and it is up to this woman to believe that he has nothing left. Only what's he shown her and praying that that will be enough.

Nya's hand touches his and slips inside of his grip. She looks up at him and he remembers her face inside of the airlock. Every decision has been the right one. Every event that brought him to her has been worth it. Even if he dies at this moment, he has found her and proven that he was right, she is the only thing that matters.

He ignores the President and whatever her decision will be. He didn't come here to be absolved of any guilt, only for the face staring at him as though she's fallen in love all over again under the darkening night sky.

"Will you kiss me, Nya Reece?"

And she does.

* * *

"This may be the strangest wedding that I've ever gone to." Callie whispers to Tyrol as they descend into the secret basement of the Resistance. "I don't understand why the President gave him asylum."

"Ex-President." Laura says from below them. "I've not had the honor of that title for several months."

"I voted for you." Callie says back, her brown eyes peering out from underneath long bangs.

"That's sweet of you."

The two women stop where they are as Tyrol heads towards the small knot of Resistance members that he knows. Tigh is glaring at every person around him with thinly veiled loathing. Sam Anders is tall and quiet as though he is lost in thought and memory of another day. There are a few others, including one of the Priestesses who is a sympathizer and active supporter of their cause. The only woman they can trust to perform the ceremony they've all been called together to witness.

Leoben is waiting by himself. He's proven himself since Laura okayed the request for asylum, giving the Resistance tips about Centurion weaknesses and the flaws in Cylon security that have helped them gain access to certain areas of the command center. He has given them as much information as he can about his model and all of the other models that he knows about. Except for the final Five, which even he has not seen. He's done all of this hidden away from the world as his existence is a death sentence is anyone topside spots him.

But now, now is not about the Resistance or those gathered. Now is simply now. And he's nervous.

"You know something," Tigh says although his voice is so surly that it's difficult to tell what he means by it. Since his release from captivity he can barely tolerate Leoben and then only for the intelligence that they can pull out of his memory.

"Colonel," Tyrol warns softly. "Not today."

"I was just thinking that he's appropriate." Tigh turns his single eye on Leoben. "Because we won't have to buy her a toaster for a wedding gift."

Silence greets the proclamation although a few have to fight smiles. But Leoben ignores it as Nya steps into the room and everyone else falls sober at her approach.

She's found a simple white dress and draped a marriage shawl across her shoulders. Cobalt and corundum eternity knots chase across her shoulders. Her hair is pinned back and held with a comb that Laura Roslin blushes to see. It fulfills its purpose to show off Nya's face and the glow of her grey eyes as she steps towards Leoben. She is beautiful.

The Priestess smiles in welcome. "Hail Gods and Goddesses, hail gentle Fates and the stars above. By Zeus and Hera's first love, we bring these two together under your watchful eyes." Nya steps in front of the Priestess as Leoben joins her. "Nya Reece. Leoben Conoy. Do you understand what the vow you're about to take means?"

"Yes."

"Yes." Leoben nods along with the words.

"Marriage is a sacred joining, but one held true with love. Do you love each other?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

Their voices begin to blend together. Following each other and with each other through the entire ceremony. It is the culmination of so many things.

The Priestess finally ends the long vows that Nya had asked for, the traditional ones that are rarely heard outside of Sagittaron and takes a deep breath before she begins the final section.

"Hail Gods and Goddesses, hail gentle Fates and the stars above. I have joined these two together, and what love has created, let no man tear asunder. Their love is blessed above all things. Two people now made one. As one journey completes and another begins. Blessings are upon you, so say we all."

"So say we all." Echoes the crowd.

"So say we all." Returns the Priestess. "Leoben, this is the best part. You may kiss your wife."

Nya turns her face up toward him and a smile plays there across her lips. "You never finished your poem. On our first date. Do you remember?"

He does. "You want to hear it now?"

"Oh go on and kiss her!" Tigh snarks from the crowd. "This isn't a negotiation."

She laughs in his arms as he lowers his lips against hers. Pressed together he murmurs the words. "Delphinium are red, orchids are…." But he doesn't finish. Orchids are blue, that's always the next part, but Leoben has been waiting for this moment for hundreds of days since the moment he was decanted in the tank and knew that he had been resurrected.

It was this moment.

He kisses her.

* * *


End file.
